PRACTICE QUESTIONS

PROBABILITY
Table of Contents

1 Multiple Choice Questions 1

2 Essay Questions 12

i
 1
Multiple Choice Questions
The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a
person’s determination.
– Tommy Lasorda

Question 1.1:
A number is chosen at random from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. What is the
probability that it is odd?
1 1 1 2
A. B. C. D.
6 3 2 3

Question 1.2:
There are 100 cars in a car park, 28 of them are blue and 34 red. If a car
is selected at random from the car park, what is the probability that it is
neither blue nor red?
31 19 17 7
A. B. C. D.
50 50 50 25

Question 1.3:
A number is selected at random from the set of whole numbers 1 to 9
inclusive. What is the probability that the number is even?
1 1 4 5
A. B. C. D.
9 2 9 9

Question 1.4:
A number is selected at random from the set S = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 15}. What is
the probability that the number is even?
7 1 8 3
A. B. C. D.
15 2 15 3

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2 Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.5:
A box contains 7 blue, 5 red and 8 white identical balls. If a ball is picked
at random from the box, what is the probability that it is white?
1 7 2 3
A. B. C. D.
4 20 5 5

Question 1.6:
A box contains 3 black and 5 red balls of the same size. If a ball is picked
at random, what is the probability that it is black?
3 2 3 5
A. B. C. D.
8 5 5 8

Question 1.7:
A box contains 40 pens of equal size. 10 of them are green and 18 red. If
a pen is chosen at random from the box, what is the probability that it is
neither green nor red?
1 3 9 7
A. B. C. D.
4 10 20 10

Question 1.8:
In a class of 48 students, 30 of them offer Physics and 27 offer Biol-
ogy. Each of the students offer at least one of the subjects. What is the
probability that a student chosen at random offers only Biology?
3 3 7 13
A. B. C. D.
16 8 16 16

Question 1.9:
A number is chosen at random from the set A = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 10}. What is
the probability that it is either a factor of 24 or a multiple of 5?
4 7 3 1
A. B. C. D.
5 10 5 5

Question 1.10:
In a race, 3 students competed from the Green House, 2 from the Red
House, 4 from the White House and 1 from the Yellow House. What is the
probability that a student from the White House will come first, if there is
no tie?
1 1 3 2
A. B. C. D.
10 5 10 5
 3

Question 1.11:
A bag contains 12 good oranges and 9 bad oranges. If an orange is picked
at random from the bag, what is the probability that it is a good orange?
1 1 3 4
A. B. C. D.
21 13 7 4

Question 1.12:
A die is rolled once. What is the probability that a number less than 3
shows up?
1 1 1 2
A. B. C. D.
6 3 2 3

Question 1.13:
A number is chosen from the set {2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. What is the probability that
it is even?
1 2 1 3
A. B. C. D.
3 5 2 5

Question 1.14:
There are 40 identical marbles in a box. 18 of the marbles are blue, 14 red
and 8 green. What is the probability that a marble selected at random is
either blue or green?
1 9 11 13
A. B. C. D.
5 20 20 20

Question 1.15:
In a class of 50 students, 25 of them read Physics and 35 read Chemistry.
All the students read at least one of the two subjects. What is the probability
that a student chosen at random from the class reads only Physics?
1 1 3 1
A. B. C. D.
5 4 10 2

Question 1.16:
A bag contains 36 marbles which are identical. 10 are red, 12 green and
the remaining yellow. A marble is selected at random from the bag. What
is the probability that the selected marble is yellow?
1 5 7 11
A. B. C. D.
18 18 18 18

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4 Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.17:
Mansa chooses a number at random from 1 to 20 inclusive. What is the
probability that the number is divisible by 3?
3 3 1 1
A. B. C. D.
20 10 5 4

Question 1.18:
A fair die is thrown once. Find the probability that a prime number shows
up.
1 1 1 5
A. B. C. D.
6 3 2 6

Question 1.19:
An integer is selected at random from the set Q = {6 < x < 15}. What is
the probability that x has two digits?
1 2 3 5
A. B. C. D.
2 5 5 8

Question 1.20:
Ofori was asked to choose whole number form 2 to 22. What is the
probability that the number he chose was a prime number?
8 11 4 11
A. B. C. D.
21 21 11 22

Question 1.21:
A box contains all the letters that form the word EQUILIBRIUM: A letter
is picked random from the box. If each of the letters is likely to be picked,
what is the Probability of picking an I ?
1 2 3 8
A. B. C. D.
11 11 11 11

Question 1.22:
A bag contains 12 blue and 8 red balls, If 2 balls are picked at random
from the bag without replacement, what is the probability that they are
both blue?
9 33 1 33
A. B. C. D.
25 95 2 100
 5

Question 1.23:
If X and Y are independent outcomes of an event, then the probability
Pr(X or Y ) is given by
A. Pr(X) × Pr(Y ) B. Pr(X) ÷ Pr(Y )
C. Pr(X) + Pr(Y ) D. Pr(X) − Pr(Y )

Question 1.24:
There are 8 boys and 4 girls in a lift. What is the probability that the first
person who steps out of the lift will be a boy?
1 1 2 3
A. B. C. D.
3 2 3 4

Question 1.25:
2
In a basketball match, the probability that a team wins is and the
3
1
probability that it draws is . What is the probability that the team loses
4
the match?
1 1 3 11
A. B. C. D.
12 3 4 12

Question 1.26:
A letter is selected at random from the word SUCCESS. What is the
probability that it is an S?
1 1 3 3
A. B. C. D.
7 4 7 4

Question 1.27:
A number is selected at random from the set of numbers {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
What is the probability that it is prime or even?
7 3 5 1
A. B. C. D.
8 4 8 4

Question 1.28:
Atteh tossed a fair die twice. What is the probability that the first score is
3 and the second is 4?
1 1 1 1
A. B. C. D.
36 18 9 2

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6 Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.29:
A boy tossed a fair die once and he obtained a score of 6. Find the proba-
bility that he will obtain a score of 6 in the next toss.
1 1 1 1
A. B. C. D.
3 6 18 36

Question 1.30:
A number is selected at random from the set of integers 1 to 20 inclusive.
What is the probability that the number selected is equal to or greater than
18?
1 3 17 9
A. B. C. D.
10 20 20 10

Question 1.31:
A pair of fair dice is tossed once. Find the probability of getting a sum of
9.
1 1 1 1
A. B. C. D.
36 18 9 8

Question 1.32:
A bag contains 3 red and 5 white balls. Two balls are picked at random,
one after the other with replacement. What is the probability that the two
balls have the same colour?
15 17 13 15
A. B. C. D.
32 32 28 28

Question 1.33:
A fair die is tossed twice. What is the probability that the sum of the digits
is a perfect square?
1 1 7 2
A. B. C. D.
12 6 36 9

Question 1.34:
Two fair dice are thrown together once. What is the probability of getting
the sum of 9?
1 1 1 4
A. B. C. D.
36 18 9 9

Three sets P, Q and R contain integers as shown below.Use the information

to answer Question 1.35 and Question 1.36.
 7

Question 1.35:
If a number is selected at random, what is the probability that it is in P
only?
3 2 1 7
A. B. C. D.
10 5 2 10

Question 1.36:
If a number is chosen at random, what is the probability that it is in Q or R
but not in P?
3 1 3 9
A. B. C. D.
10 2 5 10

Question 1.37:
What is the probability of choosing a multiple of 4 from the numbers 1 to
40 inclusive?
1 9 1 1
A. B. C. D.
10 40 4 2

Question 1.38:
A box contains 20 identical balls. 8 of them are red, 7 white and the rest
black. If two balls are chosen at random from the box without replacement,
find the probability that they are both red or both white or both black.
59 77 59 77
A. B. C. D.
200 200 190 190

Question 1.39:
A number is chosen at random from the set X = {1, 2, 3 . . . , 10}. What is
the probability that the number chosen is either a factor of 24 or a multiple
of 5?.
4 3 2 1
A. B. C. D.
5 5 5 5

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8 Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.40:
If a number is selected at random from each of the sets P = {1, 2, 3} and
Q = {2, 3, 5}, find the probability that the sum of the numbers is prime.
5 4 1 2
A. B. C. D.
9 9 3 9

Question 1.41:
1 1
The probability of an event P happening is and that of event Q is .
5 4
If the events are independent, what is the probability that neither of them
happens?
4 3 3 1
A. B. C. D.
5 4 5 20

Question 1.42:
There are 20 men in a public bus. Of these, 15 wear glasses and 10 wear
wrist watches. If one man is chosen at random from the bus, what is the
probability that he wears both glasses and wrist watch?
1 1 3 3
A. B. C. D.
5 4 5 4

Question 1.43:
Given that P = {2, 4, 6, 7} and Q = {1, 2, 4, 8}. If a number is selected at
random from P ∪ Q, find the probability that it is only in set P.
2 1 1 1
A. B. C. D.
3 2 3 6

Question 1.44:
2 3
The probabilities that Kebba, Ebou and Omar will hit a target are , and
3 4
4
respectively. Find the probability that only Kebba will hit the target.
5
2 7 1 1
A. B. C. D.
5 60 30 60

Question 1.45:
A letter is selected from the letters of the English alphabet. What is the
probability that the letter selected is from the word MATHEMATICS?
9 11 4 1
A. B. C. D.
13 26 13 26
 9

Question 1.46:
Out of the 20 girls in a class, 12 like music and 15 like movies. If a girl
is selected at random from the class, what is the probability that she likes
both hobbies?
3 3 7 3
A. B. C. D.
4 5 20 10

Question 1.47:
A fair die is thrown two times. What is the probability that the sum of the
scores is at least 10?
5 1 5 2
A. B. C. D.
36 6 18 3

Question 1.48:
A bag contains 5 red and 4 blue identical balls. If 2 balls are selected
at random from the bag, one after the other, with replacement, find the
probability that the first is red and the second blue.
2 5 20 5
A. B. C. D.
9 18 81 9

Question 1.49:
Find the probability of picking the letter T from the word STUDENT.
1 1 2 1
A. B. C. D.
7 6 7 3

Question 1.50:
Two bottles are drawn with replacement from a crate containing 8 Coke,
12 Fanta and 4 Sprite bottles. What is the probability that the first is Coke
and the second is not Coke?
1 1 2 3
A. B. C. D.
12 6 9 8

Question 1.51:
A fair die is thrown once. Find the probability of obtaining a 3,4 or 5.
1 1 1 2
A. B. C. D.
216 3 2 3

Question 1.52:
The probability that a seed planted on a piece of farmland will germinate

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10 Multiple Choice Questions

2
is Find the probability that if 3 seeds are planted on the farmland, none
5
of them will germinate.
8 9 27 3
A. B. C. D.
125 125 125 5

Question 1.53:
A fair die is thrown once. What is the probability of obtaining 3?
1 1 1
A. B. C. D. 1
6 3 2

Question 1.54:
In a certain community, 1 out of every 8 persons is a graduate. If Yomi
and Etteh are members of the community, what is the probability that they
are both graduates?
1 1 1 1
A. B. C. D.
64 16 8 4

Question 1.55:
Out of 20 girls in a class, 12 like Music and 15 like movies. If a girl is
selected at a random from the class, what is the probability that she liked
both Music and Movies?
3 7 3 3
A. B. C. D.
10 20 5 4

Question 1.56:
There are 8 boys and 4 girls in a lift. What is the probability that the first
person who steps out of the lift will be a boy?
1 2 1 3
A. B. C. D.
4 3 3 4

Question 1.57:
A box contains 2 white and 3 blue identical balls. If two balls are picked
at random from the box, one after the other with replacement what is the
probability that they are of different colours?
12 7 3 2
A. B. C. D.
25 20 5 3
 11

Question 1.58:
A box contains 5 red, 6 green and 7 yellow pencils of the same size. What
is the probability of picking a green pencil at random?
1 1 1 1
A. B. C. D.
2 3 4 6

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 2
Essay Questions
A sign of a hard worker is one who works without complaint.
– Sarah Price

Question 2.1:
Two fair dice, A and B, each with faces numbered 1 to 6 are throw together.
(a) Construct a table showing all the equally likely outcomes.
(b) From your table, list the pair of numbers on the two dice for which
the sum is:
(i) 5.
(ii) 10.
(iii) more than 10.
(iv) at least 10.
(c) Find the probability that the two dice show:
(i) different scores.
(ii) same scores.
(d) Find the probability that the sum of the numbers on the two dice is:
(i) 5.
(ii) 10.
(iii) more than 10.
(iv) at least 10.

Question 2.2:
Three blue ball, five green balls and a number of red balls are put together
in a sack. One ball is picked at random from the sack. If the probability of

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 13

picking a blue ball is 16 , find:

(i) the number of red balls in the sack.
(ii) the probability of picking a green ball.

Question 2.3:
Class A B C
Boys 16 13 13
Girls 14 22 18
The table shows three classes A, B and C in a certain school. The three
classes are put together to select a prefect. What is the probability that the
prefect will be;
(i) a boy;
(ii) a girl in Class B?

Question 2.4:
(a) The probability that two boys pass an examination are 23 and 58 . Find
the probability that;
(i) the two boys pass the exams;
(ii) only one of the boys passes the exam.
(b) A bag contains 12 balls of which x are red. When 18 more red balls
9
are added, the probability of selecting a red ball is 10 . Find the
number of red balls that were originally in the bag.

Question 2.5:
2
The probability of two candidates A and B, passing an examination are 3
and 43 respectively. Find the probability that:
(a) only one candidate will pass;
(b) at least one candidate will pass.

Question 2.6:
Two fair dice are tossed at the same time.
(a) Draw the sample space for the possible outcomes.

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14 Essay Questions

(b) Find the probability of;

(i) a total of 6 or 8;
(ii) the same number on the two dice;
(iii) a total not less than 5.

Question 2.7:
If a number is chosen at random from the set of integers {x : 7 ≤ x ≤ 26},
find the probability that the number chosen is prime or a multiple of 3.

Question 2.8:
A bag contains some balls of which 14 are red. Forty more balls of which
5 are red are added. If 15 of all balls are red, how many balls were there
originally?

Question 2.9:
A bag contains 6 red, 8 black and 10 yellow identical beads. Two beads
are picked at random, one after the other, without replacement. Find the
probability that;
(a) both are red;
(b) one is black and the other is yellow.

Question 2.10:
In a class, the probability that a student passes a test is 25 . What is the
probability that if 2 students are chosen at random from the class, one
would pass and the other would fail?

Question 2.11:
Cards labelled P, Q, R and S are contained in a pack. The table shows the
frequency of these letters.

Cards P Q R S
Frequency 2 4 3 1

If two cards are selected at random from the pack without replacement,
find the probability that both cards bear the letter P.
 15

Question 2.12:
A box contains 25 balls of which y are red.
(i) If a ball is selected at random from the box, what is the probability
that it is red?
(ii) When 15 more balls of which 7 are red are added, the probability
of selecting a red ball becomes 58 . Find the number of red balls
altogether in the box.

Question 2.13:
A farmer bought 3 seeds. The probability of each of them germinating
is 34 . If he plants all of them, find the probability that only one of them
germinates.

Question 2.14:
A building contractor tendered for two independent contracts, X and Y .
The probability that he will win contract X is 0.5 and not win contract Y is
0.3. What is the probability that he will win:
(a) both contracts;
(b) exactly one of the contract;
(c) neither of the contracts?

Question 2.15:
In a class of 52 students, 16 are Science students. If 13 of the boys and 1
4 of
the girls are Science students, how many boys are in the class?

Question 2.16:
The probability that Manful, John and Ernest will pass an examination are
2 5 3
3 , 8 and 4 respectively. Find the probability that all three will pass the
exams.

Question 2.17:
A number is selected at random from each of the sets {2, 3, 4} and {1, 3, 5}.
Find the probability that the sum of the two numbers is greater than 3 and

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16 Essay Questions

less than 7.

Question 2.18:
A fair die is thrown two times.
(a) Construct a table of the outcomes.
(b) Calculate the probability that the:
(i) sum of the outcomes is 8;
(ii) product of outcomes is less than 10;
(iii) outcomes contains at least a 3.

Question 2.19:
If two numbers are selected at random, one after the other, with replace-
ment from the set A = {5, 6, 7, 8, 9}, find the probability of selecting at
least one prime number.

Question 2.20:
A box contains five blue, three red and two white identical balls. If 2 balls
are selected at random, one after the other with replacement, from the box,
find the probability of selecting;
(a) two blue or two red balls;
(b) one red and one white.

Question 2.21:
Three bags labeled P, Q and R contains red, blue and white balls respec-
tively of equal sizes. The ratio of the balls in the bag are P : Q = 2 : 3 and
Q : R = 4 : 5. All the balls are removed into a big bag and properly mixed
together.
(a) Find the probability of picking a red ball.
(b) If two balls are picked at random one after the other with replacement,
find the probability of picking,
(i) a white ball and a blue ball;
(ii) a blue ball first and then a red ball.
 17

Question 2.22:
(a) The probabilities that James and Juliet will pass an examination are
3 3
4 and 5 respectively. Find the probability that both will fail the
examination.
(b) The table shows the distribution of balls in bag. If 2 balls are selected
at random with replacement, find the probability of selecting either 2
new green balls or 2 old blue balls.

Balls Green Blue

New 8 2
Old 4 6

Question 2.23:
The probabilities that Ade, Kofi and Fati will pass an examination are
2 5 3
, and respectively. Find the probability that:
3 8 8
(a) the three of them will pass the examination.
(b) none of them will pass the examination.
(c) Ade and Kofi only will pass the examination.

Question 2.24:
A number is chosen at random from Q = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 10}. Find the proba-
bility that the chosen number is either a prime factor of 42 or a multiple of
3.

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